Dual action or multi-action sanders are used in automotive body work to remove paint, smooth filling compound and similar operations. The sanders have drive motors that produce rotary power. The motors rotate sanding pads, onto which is placed sanding paper.
The motors generally rotate at a fairly high speed or revolutions per minute. If the sanding pads were rotated at the same high speed, then it would be difficult for an operator to conduct delicate sanding operations requiring only light sanding. Oversanding and gouging of surfaces would occur.
In order to slow down the speed of the sanding pads, and also the sandpaper carried by the sanding pads, the sander is provided with a dual action device. The dual action device effectively acts as a transmission, and transmits only a small portion of the rotary power from the motor to the sanding pad. Thus, the sanding pad rotates at a slower speed than the motor. This allows an operator to better control the sanding operation of the sandpaper.
Prior art dual action sanders are typically too large to be used in small spaces such as are encountered in automotive body work.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a dual action apparatus that can operate in small spaces.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a scraper blade accessory on a dual action apparatus such that motion is imparted by the dual action apparatus to the scraper blade accessory.